The present invention relates generally to ink-jet printing and more particularly to an ink set and media for ink-jet printing.
Ink-jet printing is a non-impact method for producing images by the deposition of ink droplets in a pixel-by-pixel manner to an image-recording medium in response to appropriate commands, such as digital signals.
To generate full color prints using ink-jet printing, ink sets having components of various colors and/or hues are used. Generally, ink sets having cyan, magenta, and yellow inks are utilized. In addition, a black ink is often added to enhance the printing of text and darker colors. Simple four-color systems like CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) ink systems provide economical solutions for color printing. Systems incorporating six-inks or more have been developed to provide, in some instances, increased color gamut and finer grain characteristics than the four-ink systems. However, these systems may, in some instances increase metamerism, ink consumption, and/or printing complexity.
Further, to achieve high image quality, photo-base papers have typically been used as the substrate in print media. While photo-base papers provide high image quality, they may generally be more expensive than paper-base papers and may add to the overall cost of the print media. Furthermore, photo-base papers, in some instances, do not readily absorb the ink vehicle used in the ink-jet ink. Generally, a high coat-weight of an ink-receiving layer (e.g. greater than about 25 grams per square meter (“GSM”)), may be necessary to absorb the ink vehicle. In addition, multiple layers may be used as the ink-receiving layer to separate the colorant from the ink vehicle to improve coalescence. Still further, images printed on photo-base paper may, in some instances have poor bleed characteristics and color fastness under humid conditions.